


Tenebrous - Agent Afloat

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1279]
Category: NCIS, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 00:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19187938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: Gibbs has been in love with Tony for a long time, but he has a secret that prevents him from even considering a relationship with Tony. A secret that involves national security. However, there are other forces at play that will force him to admit his secret to Tony and what's this about getting the boat out of the basement?





	Tenebrous - Agent Afloat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Appletini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Appletini/gifts).



> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 10/31/2002 for the word [tenebrous](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2002/10/31/tenebrous).
> 
> tenebrous[ ten-uh-bruh s ]  
> adjective  
> dark; gloomy; obscure.
> 
> This is for prompt #5 of the November 2018 Five Prompts Challenge located [here](https://ncis-discuss.livejournal.com/155743.html).
> 
> This is also for Appletini who initiated the discussion that sparked this idea.

“Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!” Abby excitedly announced her presence as she made her way into the basement where Gibbs was busy building one of his boats.

“Hey Abbs.” Gibbs greeted stonily.

“You really need to stop spending all your time down here.”

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at Abby and didn’t mention that he spent most of his time at NCIS. He just stared at Abby.

Abby frowned before muttering, “You don’t have to be so gloomy all the time.”

Gibbs shook his head and returned to his boat. It was almost done and would be time for Rodney to pick it up soon. “Did you need something, Abby?”

“I found the perfect woman for you.”

“Abbs,” Gibbs growled warningly.

“Come on, Gibbs. Stop being a stick in the mud. Get out. Live a little. I promise she’s perfectly nice.”

“I’m busy.”

“Gibbs.” Abby stomped her foot. “I just want you to be happy. Is that so wrong?”

“I’m fine, Abbs.”

Abby huffed disbelievingly, but switched topics to Gibbs great relief, “When are you going to tell me how you get the boats out anyway?”

Gibbs just shook his head and said nothing. It was literally a national secret how he got the boats out of the basement. There was no way he was going to tell Abby.

Of course, Abby wasn’t the only one who protested his tenebrous tendencies. Ducky appeared not long after Abby left and Gibbs had to wonder if she’d called him. No matter.

He wasn’t going to let Ducky set him up or find out how he got the boats out of the basement anymore than he was going to let Abby do so. Gibbs continued to work on his boat as he waited for Ducky to get to the point.

“Really, Jethro. Must you spend all day in your gloomy basement?”

“I like it here.”

Ducky snorted. “I have no doubt that’s true, but it’s not healthy for you.”

Gibbs just grunted. 

Ducky shook his head. “I see you aren’t interested in listening to reason today, so I shall leave you with these words of wisdom, ‘Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.’ Leo Buscaglia said that and it seems fitting.”

“I’m fine, Ducky.”

Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief when Ducky left. Someone from Atlantis should be along shortly to take charge of the boat and he didn’t want to have to explain their presence to anyone. The final piece to the boat was the transponder.

Once he put that in, it notified Rodney that it was ready and he made sure someone came to get it. Gibbs had no idea how they actually got it out, though he had his suspicions. His covert ops work had taught him that sometimes you were better off not knowing. He was pretty sure that this was one of those times. 

That kind of information was dangerous to anyone holding it. He’d signed enough waivers just for the part that he’d agreed to, mainly building the boats. He had no idea what they used the boats for in Atlantis, but they sure needed a lot of them.

He’d just put the transponder in and was working on the finishing touches. Someone showed up within two hours of Gibbs putting the transponder in without fail, so Gibbs knew it wouldn’t be long now. 

“Gibbs!” 

“O’Neill. Heard you retired.”

O’Neill snorted. “I tried.”

“Now you’re hauling boats for Atlantis?”

“I do what I have to do.”

Gibbs grunted. “Dr. Jackson.”

“Gibbs. How are things? You ready to join the madness?”

“Nah. I’ve got a good thing with NCIS.”

“And yet, you spend most of your time in your basement building boats.”

Gibbs sighed. “Not you too. Did Abby talk to you?”

“Abby?”

Gibbs shook his head. “Never mind.”

“This the latest one?” O’Neill nodded to the boat.

Gibbs nodded. “Have at it.”

O’Neill nodded and used the matter dematerializer that Rodney had reverse engineered from the wraith to store the boat for easy transport to Atlantis. 

“You know you’re welcome whenever.” Daniel tossed over his shoulder as he left with O’Neill.

“I know.” Gibbs grunted.

He glanced at his watch and realized he would be late. He knew Tony would have the team working on their assigned stuff with or without him there and the Director understood that he had secrets above the Director’s paygrade that would sometimes make him late. So it was understandably a surprise when Gibbs went into work and only found McGee and Ziva. 

“Where’s DiNozzo?” Gibbs barked.

McGee and Ziva shrugged. “We have not seen him this morning.”

Gibbs snarled and whipping out his cell phone dialed Tony’s number. He growled even more when it went to voicemail. “Gibbs. Call me,” he barked at the voicemail before hanging up.

Just then Vance stepped out of his office. “Gibbs,” he ordered.

Gibbs glared at Leon for the order before taking the steps two at a time to find out what Vance wanted. He needed to start looking for his agent. 

“What do you want?” Gibbs snapped at Vance as soon as the office door closed.

“It’s about DiNozzo.”

“Just spit it out, Leon. What is it?”

“He’s accepted an agent afloat position.”

“What? Why?”

Vance shrugged. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity I believe were the words he used.”

“Where is he?” Gibbs growled. 

Vance shrugged, “Somewhere that I know better than to ask questions about.”

Gibbs stared at Leon for a long time, after that, before realization sunk in. “Fuck.”

“Gibbs?”

“It’s nothing.” Gibbs shook his head.

“Are you sure?”

Gibbs nodded.

“Will you be ok?”

“Fine, but you may want to start looking for someone else to lead the MCRT.”

“Gibbs?”

Gibbs shook his head. “Not now, Leon. I have some calls to make.”

Gibbs stepped out of the building not wanting anyone at NCIS to overhear. He quickly dialed O’Neill. “You bastard. What did you offer him?”

“Hello to you too, Gibbs.”

“Don’t give me that, Jack. I thought we were friends. Why did you do it?”

“For you.”

“What?”

“Look, we both know how Earth’s prejudices fall on this matter. In Atlantis, that’s not an issue.”

“What the hell are you talking about, General?”

O’Neill sighed. “Look this conversation really needs to be held in a secure area. I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

“Fine.” Gibbs snarled and stabbed the hang up button as hard as he possibly could before shoving his phone in his pocket and storming back into NCIS.

McGee and Ziva both gulped as they realized that whatever Vance had told Gibbs had not calmed him down in the slightest. 

“Uh, boss?” McGee stammered.

“What?” Gibbs snapped.

“When’s Tony coming back?”

“I don’t know, McGee.” Gibbs softened slightly at Tim’s worry, before muttering under his breath, “Possibly never. Damn assholes.”

Ziva and McGee exchanged looks, but didn’t comment any further. They had zero desire to have Gibbs’ full ire directed at them.

“Grab some cold cases and get to work,” Gibbs barked.

As Ziva and McGee nodded and headed to do just that, Gibbs called out, “Make sure your reports are up to date as well.”

Gibbs could hear Ziva and McGee speculating about what was going on, but he couldn’t be bothered just then. He had expected one of O’Neill’s flunkies to show up, so he was surprised to find Colonel Sheppard standing in front of him.

“What’s going on, Sheppard?”

“Everything will be explained once we get to SGC.”

Gibbs crossed his arms and glared grumpily at Sheppard. The Colonel must be involved in getting Tony reassigned somehow. There was no other explanation for his presence.

He knew John was the kind of commander who took on the difficult tasks himself instead of letting them fall to an underling who had no responsibility for the situation they found themselves in. He wondered what had happened with Atlantis to result in them asking for Tony’s presence. He was sure now that Tony had been specifically requested and Leon had had no reason to deny it, especially once Tony agreed.

Gibbs had a bad feeling that his life was about to change against his will. His main reason for staying on Earth was to keep his team out of Atlantis. He knew damn well that Atlantis faced greater immediate danger than Earth, though he was sure O’Neill would debate that with him.

The fact was Atlantis was the front lines of a war, where O’Neill’s team was more like the home base of operations. Very few people had any knowledge that Earth was even in danger, so it was a completely different level of danger than what Atlantis faced. He’d hoped to keep his team out of it, but clearly someone had overruled him and Tony, the fool, had jumped at the chance. Gibbs couldn’t exactly blame Tony, he knew things had been rough recently and that it was mostly his fault, but that didn’t mean he liked what he suspected was happening either.

He hated people meddling in his life. First Vance separated the team and now this; it wasn’t fair. He hoped he was wrong, but he doubted it.

Tony wouldn’t understand that Gibbs needed him safe. Gibbs would have been happier if Tony had taken one of the promotions that would keep him on Earth, but given Tony didn’t even know about his feelings, well he couldn’t expect Tony to do what he wanted. He’d been the best SFA Gibbs had ever had and Gibbs knew he’d been doing Tony an injustice by keeping him on his team, but he’d never expected this outcome.

He didn’t care about Ziva or McGee. They would make do with whoever Vance found to replace him, but he would be damned if he was going to let Tony go to Atlantis without him there to protect him. Tony could be reckless. He was cut from the same cloth as Gibbs, after all, but Gibbs wasn’t about to just let him die because he thought no one cared.

“Gibbs?” Tony questioned in shock as Gibbs and Colonel Sheppard entered the room where he’d been talking with General O’Neill.

“Tony. You don’t have to do this, you know?”

Tony’s brow furrowed. What was Gibbs getting at? “What do you mean?”

“You can go back to NCIS. Forget about this entire thing. They can’t force you to do this.”

Tony laughed. “Gibbs. I’m not here against my will. I want to do this.”

“Damn it, Tony.” Gibbs looked away.

Tony watched him trying to figure out what was going on here. O’Neill was smirking in the corner and Tony didn’t know Sheppard well enough to know what he was thinking. He looked at Gibbs’ body language and sputtered, “Are you sulking?”

Gibbs startled, meeting Tony’s eyes briefly in shock before glancing away once again.

“You are. Why are you sulking? Why are you even here?”

Gibbs ignored the first question, but sighed and answered the second question, “You didn’t think I would just let you leave my team without talking to you, did you?” He knew Tony deserved that much.

“This isn’t about you. How do you even know about all of this?”

Gibbs frowned, knowing it was time to reveal some of his secrets, “Tony, I’ve been working with the Stargate program for years. Pretty much the entire time I’ve been retired from the Marines.”

“What? You have?”

Gibbs nodded.

“Doing what? You’ve been an NCIS agent basically that entire time.”

Gibbs shrugged, a hint of a smile flirting at the edges of his lips, “Building boats.”

“You mean all those boats in your basement?”

“Yep.” Gibbs full on smirked now.

Tony shook his head. “You’re trying to distract me. What’s really going on here?”

“I’d like to know that too.” Gibbs growled, glaring at O’Neill and Sheppard.

After a glance at General O’Neill, Colonel Sheppard coughed, “Atlantis is getting to be a city in its own right. It’s not just a military post anymore. We’ve grown so large that we need someone to enforce the laws. Someone who can be flexible in their thinking and won’t try to push laws that don’t make sense onto a city inhabited by more than just us.”

“So?” Gibbs glared. 

“You’ve made your position about Atlantis quite clear over the years, Gunny.” O’Neill pointed out.

Gibbs just crossed his arms and glared harder at that.

“Believe it or not there aren’t many people with the experience and the flexibility to do this job.”

“Why Tony?”

“Come on, Gibbs. Even you have to admit, he’d be perfect for this.”

Gibbs glowered at O’Neill, “Tony can do anything he wants to, but that’s not why you chose him. You did this to get to me.”

“Well that was a side benefit,” O’Neill admitted with a quirk of his lips.

Tony looked back and forth between O’Neill and Gibbs. It was quite obvious there was more going on than he was following. He’d expected Gibbs to be upset that Tony had left the team, but not like this.

Tony’s brow furrowed as he tried to piece together what was going on. There was something there, just at the edge of his mind, if he could just figure out what it was. Then it clicked, “Oh my god, you’re in love with me.”

Gibbs dropped his head into his hands at that. Tony had always been perceptive, but sometimes he wished that he could keep at least one secret from the man. 

O’Neill looked at Sheppard and gestured with his head to the door. “We’ll leave you two to talk this out. When you’re done we can finish this discussion.”

Gibbs did his best to bore holes into O’Neill’s back. He knew this was exactly what O’Neill had wanted. He hated playing into other people’s hands like this.

“What’s going on?”

“O’Neill is playing matchmaker,” Gibbs grumbled.

“You mean all of this was to force you to admit your feelings about me.”

Gibbs shook his head. “No, Tony. They really do want you for that agent afloat position. Forcing me to admit my feelings for you was just a side benefit in O’Neill’s eyes.”

“There’s got to be more to it than that.”

“There is,” Gibbs sighed, thunking down heavily into one of the chairs in the room.

“What’s going on, Gibbs?”

“I never wanted you involved in this. Not because I don’t think you’ll do amazing, but because Atlantis is the frontline and I can’t stand the thought of you being hurt. O’Neill knows this, the bastard, and is forcing my hand.”

Tony frowned. “I don’t understand. What does this have to do with you?”

“I’ve refused to join the Atlantis expedition despite knowledge of it to protect you and keep you safe here on Earth. O’Neill knows this. This is his way of forcing me to join Atlantis.”

“You don’t have to join just because of me, Gibbs. I’ll be fine.”

“I know that, but if you think I’m going to let you put yourself on the front lines without me there to have your six. You’re crazy.”

“And everyone thinks I’m the loyal Saint Bernard.”

Gibbs shrugged. “I’ve known for a long time that you were the only thing that made life worth living for me.”

“God, Gibbs. You can’t just say stuff like that. Not when we’re in a military installation and I can’t kiss you.”

Gibbs shook his head and reeled Tony in for a kiss. “No one here cares about that Tony. That’s part of why you were picked for this position. They need someone who won’t enforce stupid rules on Atlantis.”

Tony was no longer listening, though, too lost in the sensation of the kiss. He’d long ago given up hope that Gibbs would return his feelings, but that hadn’t stopped him from having them. That’s when he realized that Gibbs had never intended to tell Tony about his feelings.

Tony pulled back sharply. “So if I hadn’t gotten drawn into Atlantis, you would never have told me?”

Gibbs knew that the answer to this question more than any of the others would shape what happened next, “God, Tony. I had a hard enough time keeping Atlantis a secret from you when you were just my SFA and my friend. If we had been more than that, it would have been damn near impossible. I’ve wanted you for so long, but I couldn’t force that on you and I couldn’t even think about starting something with you with a secret like this hanging over our heads. You matter too much for me to be willing to start a relationship with you based on lies.”

Tony kissed Gibbs fiercely for that response. “You’re not out of the doghouse, but god help me I love you too.”

Gibbs rested his forehead against Tony’s and smiled slightly. He was still pissed at O’Neill for his interference, but he couldn’t deny that he wanted this with Tony. He still wished Tony wasn’t going to Atlantis, but he knew there was no way he’d change Tony’s mind, which was one of the things he loved most about Tony.

Very few people ever stood up to him. Everything was changing and he hated it, but he knew Atlantis would be good for Tony. It was time for him to stop brooding and start living just like Ducky had said. 

Of course, only Tony had ever been able to accomplish actually changing Gibbs’ mind about something. He knew that they had a couple of very serious conversations in front of them, but for now Gibbs would simply enjoy the knowledge that Tony would be there with him. That wouldn’t stop him from plotting how to get O’Neill back for this, however, despite knowing that this was the only way a relationship with Tony would have worked.

**Author's Note:**

> The dictionary.com series has 9 stories already written for it after this one, so I will be posting at least 9 stories before I stop posting again. I'm hoping to get more stories written before then, so that I don't stop posting for a while. Wish me luck! 
> 
> It's 2019 now and I have closed my 2018 Prompt collection, but fear not my 2019 Prompt Collection is now open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2020. I'm hoping to complete all the 2019 prompts by the end of 2020. Do not fear I have not forgotten about the 2018 prompts and will continue working through them. It's just easier for me to not get overwhelmed if I keep the prompts separated by the year they were given to me.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


End file.
